A S T R O
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: (A.S.T.R.O.) A prototype super robot built for the military in the form of a small boy escapes from the lab in the custody of the scientist who helped create him. After their escape goes wrong the boy ends up being adopted by a loving family. The military are still looking for him and won't give up until they find him and deactivate him. Inspired by the movie D.A.R.Y.L.
1. Loose in the world

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_1. Loose in the world_

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. Umataro Tenma<strong> looked nervously around the lab. He checked on his computer to make sure that the hack he had placed on the security camera system had rerouted the video feed so that the footage the cameras had captured several hours ago were now live. Good, no one would see what he was about to do. He looked over to the test station at the other side of the room. Sitting quietly next to a bunch of instruments that were recording his current parameters, sat a small robot about the size of a nine year old child. The robot had what looked like dark hair with two star like cowlicks on his head. He wore nothing but dark short pants topped with a wide green metallic belt, and a pair of knee high red boots.

Every time he looked at the prototype robot, Umataro couldn't help but think of his deceased nine year old son, who had been killed in a tragic accident earlier in the year. The android looked so much like his poor Tobio.  
>"Come here Astro," he motioned to the robot. The robot walked over to him. "What is it Dr. Tenma?" he asked.<p>

"I need to make some adjustments to your systems." the doctor said.

The robot opened his chest panel and smiled at the doctor. "OK sir, I'm ready." he said.

Dr. Tenma reached inside of the robot and removed a memory module, and then replaced it with another one. He closed the panel on the robot's chest after adjusting a few internal switches. The robot's appearance changed slightly. The dark hair was now auburn in color, and the two cowlicks were now unruly tufts instead of sharp points. "How do you feel, Tobio?" he asked.

"I feel fine father, why do you ask?" The robot said.

"Oh nothing." Dr. Tenma said, handing him a small pile of clothing. "Get dressed, we have to leave soon."

The boy pulled the pair of long jean slacks over his boots and donned a tee shirt with the logo of the N.Y. Mets baseball team. He also wore a baseball cap with the team logo on it. The last item of clothing he put on was a blue jacket, which he zipped up. The doctor took a good look at the boy. "Hopefully we'll get away with this." he muttered to himself.

**Dr.** Tenma opened the door to the laboratory and looked both ways down the hallway. He didn't see anybody, so he motioned to the boy, "come, we're getting out of here."

They quickly entered the staircase at the end of the hall and ran down to the basement. Exiting the building from a back door, the doctor led the boy to his car. "Crouch down son," the doctor told the boy, "it would be dangerous if anyone saw you."

"OK, father." The boy replied, as he lay down on the floor just behind the front seat and pulled a blanket that had been lying there over himself. Dr. Tenma started the car's engine and started to drive away. He had to drive though a manned gate at the entrance to the complex and show his ID to the guard.

"Leaving early, Dr. Tenma?" The guard asked him, putting down a sci-fi novel he'd been reading.

"Yes, I have some personal business to take care of," the doctor told the guard, hoping he wouldn't notice how badly his hands were sweating.

"Well you take care of yourself, Doctor." The guard said, "see you tomorrow."

"Good afternoon, and thank you." The doctor said as the guard opened the gate.

Dr. Tenma had almost made it to the end of the private road that led to the state highway when Tobio sat up for a second to look around, thinking they were now in the clear. The guard spotted the back of the boy's head pop up and then disappear, but he did nothing and kept reading his paperback.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. Pavilion<strong> entered the robotics lab with his clipboard ready. As he entered the room he called out for his colleague, "Dr. Tenma are you ready for me?" He noticed that the laboratory was empty, and that A.S.T.R.O. was missing. He quickly put two and two together and phoned security.

"Did Doctor Tenma sign out for the day?" he asked.

"Let me check." came the reply from the duty officer at the desk. Pavilion drummed his fingers on the desk. Finally the security officer answered back, "Yes the front gate reported he just left a few minutes ago."

"Was anyone in the car with him?" Pavilion asked. "Our prototype is missing!"

The security officer picked up the phone and called the main gate. Within a few seconds he had his answer. A few minutes later several military vehicles were storming down the state highway after the doctor.

* * *

><p>"You can sit up now." Dr. Tenma yelled towards the back seat. "We're past the gate now."<p>

"Why are we running away?" Tobio asked.

"The government men want to take you away from me." Tenma told the boy. "I won't allow them to do that."

Dr. Tenma looked up into his rear view mirror noticing the three olive drab Humvees coming over the horizon, and he slowly pressed the accelerator down.  
>"Damn it, they're after us, son." He said, "I had hoped I could sneak you out of there, but somehow they figured it out. Dr. Pavilion must have come into the laboratory early and spotted that you were missing."<p>

**The** olive drab vehicles were getting closer. Dr. Tenma waited for the last instant to pull off the road and took the on ramp towards the N.J.T.P. Two of the Humvees's missed the entrance but the third one managed to follow him. Tenma blew through the Easy Pass lane and flew onto the highway. He dodged in and out of traffic trying to keep ahead of the government vehicle. Up ahead the road divided into two, with one side marked "No Trucks." Tenma kept towards the commercial vehicle side of the fork until the last second hoping to fool the G men into taking the wrong road. He quickly cut across several lanes of traffic, causing several cars behind him to spin out, almost starting a chain reaction wreck. The Humvee found itself several hundred feet to the east side of the road across a wide gulf from where Tenma now drove. The highway on the east side was clogged with truck traffic, while the west side was moving well. The doctor slammed the accelerator to the floor, weaving in and out to pass the traffic ahead of him until he could no longer see the military vehicle behind him, on the east side of the road.

Up ahead and to the east the skyline of NYC began to appear. The doctor took the exit towards the George Washington bridge, and as he did so he noticed the two unmarked cars that were following him. He quickly yanked the wheel towards the right and drove off the side of the road and down the embankment. His move took his persuaders by surprise, but they doubled back.

"Listen Tobio." the doctor told the boy. "It's vital that you are not captured. Get out of the car and make your way by foot into the city. The bridge is less than a mile away, you can see it from here." He handed the boy a piece of paper. "Go to this address and hand this note to the people that live there. They are friends of mine and will keep you safe."

In the distance they could hear the squeal of tires as the two dark colored cars that had been chasing them drew closer.

"Run!" Tenma yelled at the boy, "I'll try and find you later!"

Tobio took off into the shadows. He heard his father's car speed off. Two automobiles speed by him racing after his father. He heard gun shots, and the sound of a crash. In the distance he saw a fireball rise into the sky.

* * *

><p><strong>Tobio<strong> slowly walked over the bridge. He made his way into Manhattan and walked downtown the many miles toward the address on the piece of paper that Dr. Tenma had given him. Since it was now about one in the morning, he sat down on the front steps of the brownstone house and waited for someone to open the door. Placing his hand into one of his pockets, he found a tissue and wiped his eyes. He'd been crying and hadn't realized it. Leaning against the railing of the stairs leading up to the house Tobio closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**The **sun hadn't quite yet risen, but the color of the sky had changed from a dark indigo to a deep shade of blue with the hint of light in the east. The city had already started to awaken itself from the few hours of slumber that it was allowed. Traffic in the street had started to pick up as delivery trucks were already making their first rounds of the day. A teenage boy came down the street on his bicycle, tossing newspapers right and left. He was the delivery boy for the New York Daily News, one of the first editions to hit the street every morning before the crack of dawn. He didn't notice Tobio sleeping on the stairs at the exact spot that served as his designated target for the mornings delivery every weekday. The rolled up newspaper hit the sleeping boy squarely between his eyes.

"Ouch!" Tobio woke up instantly, rubbing his forehead where the newsprint projectile had bounced off of. "Sorry!" the boy on the bicycle yelled over his shoulder as he peddled away. "I didn't see you there!"

Tobio rubbed his eyes and spotted the newspaper lying a few feet away. He picked it up and removed the periodical from the thin plastic bag that it came in and unrolled it. The paper fell open to the third page, where a blurry photograph was printed. Despite the poor quality of the image, he recognized the face at once. Tobio read the bylines that were associated with the photograph. 'Prominent government scientist, Dr. Umataro Tenma, was found dead early this morning in the burned wreckage of his late model automobile. The New Jersey State Police theorize that he lost control of his car after a tire blew out while exiting the NJTP for the GWB. His body tested positive for a high level of blood alcohol.'  
>"That doesn't make any sense." he thought to himself, as his eyes teared up again.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> alarm clock rang for several minutes before Mr. Richardson walked into the boy's room to silence it. "Come on you two sleepy heads!" he shouted. "Time for school! Today's Friday, you can sleep in tomorrow if you want."

Ten year old Tommy Richardson reached over to the nightstand to hunt for his glasses. His fingers made contact with the frames and he put them into place. The boy hated having to wear the glasses, but without them he was quite blind. The kids at school always called him 'Specs', and though he had gotten used to the name, he couldn't wait for his 13th birthday, as his parents had promised him they'd have him fitted for a pair of contact lenses then.

On the other side of the room, thirteen year old Reno yawned and got out of bed to run towards the bathroom. The older boy had been adopted two years ago when Tommy was only eight. The Richardson's had taken him in after his parents had died in an airplane crash somewhere over the sea of Japan. The boy's folks had been famous scientists, they had traveled the world on various expeditions and had been en route to a dig near Mt. Fuji when their plane had disappeared. Reno had accompanied his parents on several such trips before, but for this one they had insisted that he remain in the States with his grandmother until the school year ended. He had been living with the Richardson's ever since his grandmother started showing signs of dementia and had to be committed to a nursing home. With quite a high IQ, Reno did very well at school, and he kept an eye on his younger stepbrother.

After waking his two boys, Robert Richardson went downstairs to get the newspaper. He found it opened, sitting in the lap of a nine year old boy who was quietly sobbing.  
>"What's the matter, son?" Bob asked the weeping child.<p>

"My dad was killed last night!" Tobio cried. "He told me to come here, that he'd meet up with me later, but they got him!"

Tobio handed Mr. Richardson the piece of paper that his father had given him. It had his name and address written on it, along with some other cryptic writing that looked like stick figures. At first Bob couldn't make out the strange script, and then it came to him. "You're Umataro's son?" he asked.

"Yes, that was my dad's first name." Tobio sobbed.

"I knew your father from college, we were in the same frat together." Bob told the boy. "I haven't seen or heard from him in years, I'm surprised that he remembers me. We had this secret writing in the fraternity, a kind of code based on a Sherlock Holmes story. Your dad invented it." Mr. Richardson put on a pair of reading glasses and began to translate the writing.

"If my son Tobio shows up at your doorstep please take him in. I'm probably in custody, or worse if you are reading this, don't let the boy know. He must be protected, they must not find him. Sorry to burden you with this, but the fate of the world might depend on this. Your old friend, Umataro Tenma."

Bob put a smile on quickly and looked at the boy. "You father was a little strange when I knew him, always a bit paranoid. I wouldn't take most of what was in that note too seriously."

"But they were after us." Toby sobbed. "We were being chased by a bunch of military Jeeps on the turnpike, and we almost got away from them. Look." He handed Bob the newspaper and pointed to the article. "My dad wasn't drunk. I think they shot at him when his car crashed. I heard the gunfire."

"Well I don't know what your old man got himself into, but you're staying with us." Bob smiled "I can fit another bed into the boy's room and you are going to become part of this family, at least for the short term. You follow me and my wife will get you cleaned up and fed."


	2. A new home

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_2__. __A new home_

**Ellen **Richardson took one look at Tobio and instantly her maternal instinct took over. She took the little waif into the hall half bath and washed his hands and face with a soapy wash cloth.  
>"You poor little boy." She said, "Don't you worry about a thing, we're going to make you right at home here."<p>

Tobio looked up at her and tried to smile. While he felt comfort in being taken in by the Richardson's, he was still in shock from the previous night's adventure. His memories, whether they were real or implanted, contained many years of happy times with his father, and more distant ones with his mother. The realization that he'd never see either one of them again weighed down heavily on him, and it would take some time for that sorrow to be replaced by the new love of an adoptive parent.

**Tommy **and Reno stormed down the stairs toward the kitchen where Mr. Richardson was busy cooking up scrambled eggs and hash browns. The smell hit Tobio's olfactory senses, and the sensation recalled pleasant memories. He started to salivate, with the realization that he was hungry.  
>"Tommy, Reno," Mr. Richardson addressed the boys as they sat down at the table, "We will be having a guest for the foreseeable future."<p>

Mrs. Richardson led Tobio into the kitchen. "Boys, Please make Tobio feel at home. He's the orphaned son of a friend of your father."

Reno got up and walked over to Tobio. He threw his arms around him and gave him a hug. "Cheer up Tobio. I'll be a big brother for you." The elder boy said. "I know how it feels to be left all alone in the world."

"How old are you, Tobio?" Tommy asked, "I'm ten and Reno is thirteen."

Tobio had to think for a few seconds, but his memory held the answer. "I'm nine years old." Tobio said, "So I guess you are both big brothers to me."

"Hey, yeah!" Tommy said holding out his hand, palm facing up, "Give me five! I always wanted a younger brother."

Tobio placed his open hand face down on top of Tommy's.

"No, not like that!" Tommy said. "Here, hold out you hand like I did."

Tobio followed the boy's example, and Tommy slapped Tobio's hand with his. "Now that's how you give five!"

**Tommy** wolfed down his breakfast, while Reno and Tobio ate more slowly. Tobio seemed to find extreme rapture in each bite, and it was clear to Mrs. Richardson that the breakfast had picked up the boys spirits.  
>"You act like you haven't eaten in years." Ellen told him. "Just when was your last meal?"<p>

"I don't remember." Tobio said.

"That long?" She laughed as Tobio handed her his empty plate. "Seconds?" she asked.

Tobio gave the question a few moments thought before answering. "I guess so, if you don't mind too much."

"Nonsense!" Robert said as he cracked two more eggs into the bowl and started scrambling them. "I was a mess Sargent in the army, being a cook is in my blood now. It will be my pleasure!"

From out in the street the sound of honking wafted into the brownstone. "I think your bus is coming!" Ellen Richardson yelled to Tommy and Reno, who were already running out the door.

"They always nearly miss their school bus every morning with their dilly dallying." She complained to Tobio. "Every once in a while I have to give them my TA pass so they can take the city bus or the subway to school because they actually get outside too late."

"While the kids are at school, why don't you see if you can alter some of Tommy's old clothes to fit Tobio?" Mr Richardson asked his wife. "If he's going to live with us, he's going to need more to wear than what he has on his back now."

"Good idea." She said. "I was going to bring Tommy's outgrown clothes to Goodwill, but I think they will fit Tobio just fine."

Tobio finished his second helping of scrambled eggs and carefully stacked his plate on top of the other two and carried the dirty dishes to the sink.

"Well thank you, Tobio!" Mr. Richardson said. "Now if I could only get my other two sons to clean up the table after themselves!" He rinsed the breakfast dishes off and placed them in the dishwasher, and then removed his apron. "Now it's time for me to run off to work. I'll see both of you later." Robert kissed his wife goodbye and gave Tobio a pat on the head, before grabbing his briefcase and heading out the door.

"Well, I guess it's just the two of us until 3:30 when the boys get back from school." She told Tobio.

"I wish I could go to school." the boy sighed.

"Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we." Mrs. Richardson said. "I guess we'll have to see what we need to do to get you enrolled in the public school system. Might be a bit of a problem not having any legal identity papers for you, but I have a lawyer friend who might be able to help us out with that."

"Gee, thanks!" Tobio said. "If I can go to school, I could make some friends."

"Well, that won't be a problem." She laughed. "I'm sure as soon as they get home from school Tommy and Reno will introduce you to some of their friends. I'm sure you'll hit it off with them right away. Some of my son's friends are a little strange, but they're good kids."

* * *

><p><strong>Tommy <strong>usually walked home with his best friend Turtle. Turtle was about an inch shorter than Tommy though he was actually a few months older. He lived with his mother and older sister, his father was in the army reserves and was often away for months at a time.

"Want to come over to my house after school and play video games, Specs?" he asked Tommy. "I've got a few new ones for my Playstation."

"Sure, Turtle." Tommy said. "Can I bring Tobio with me? He's a new kid about a year younger than me that's going to be living with us."

"Sure, I'd like to meet him." Turtle said, "I could use some new blood to play with. You're getting too good and I can't beat you so easy anymore."

"Great, let's stop by my house first and and I'll introduce you to him." Tommy suggested.

**Tommy **and Turtle knocked on the door and Mrs. Richardson opened it. "Welcome home from school son," she said, adding "Hi Shib, want some cookies?"

"Gee thanks! Mrs. Richardson." Turtle said.

Tobio stood behind Ellen Richardson, he was now wearing one of Tommy's out grown short pants and a N.Y. Rangers jersey.

"Hey, that's my favorite shirt!" Tommy cried, "What's he doing with it?"

"It's not yours anymore, son," his mother said, "Remember, you said it was too small on you?"

"Oh yeah, I guess I did." Tommy said. "Well that's OK, it looks good on you Tobio."

"Hi Tobio," Turtle said, sticking out his hand, palm up, "My name is Shib, but my friends call me Turtle."

"What kind of name is Shib?" Tobio asked, slapping Turtle's hand with his palm to high five him.

"Well it's actually short for Shibugaki, but the teachers can't pronounce that, so they just call me Shib for short." Turtle said. "I was named for my great grandfather, my grandfather married my grandmother when he was stationed in Japan right after WWII."

"Gee, then you're actually 1/8 Japanese." Tobio said.

"That's funny," Tommy said, "you look Hispanic to me."

"Well DUH!" Turtle said. "My last name is Rodriguez!"

"Hey Mom!" Tommy yelled, "Me and Tobio are going over to Turtle's house to play video games, OK?"

"Sure, just make sure you get home in time for dinner!" Mrs. Richardson yelled back from the laundry room.

As the three boys ran out the front door they almost ran into Reno who was just getting home from middle school.

"Where are you guys going?" Reno asked.

"We're going over to Turtle's house to check out his new Playstation games." Tommy told his step brother, "Want to come with us?"

"No thanks." Reno replied, "I'm going to work on my science fair project before dinner."

"Hope you win this year!" Tommy replied as the front door slammed shut.

* * *

><p><strong>Turtle <strong>lived a block and a half away from the Richardson's in a six story apartment house. The nearly 100 year old building had been renovated in an urban renewal project and now sported an all modern interior. The old wood frame windows had all been replaced with energy efficient double pane units that let in lots of light, but kept out the heat and cold. The ancient elevators had been replaced by modern ones and all new lighting installed in the hallways and stairs.

As the boys entered the apartment, Turtle greeted his older sister who was lying on the bed in her room with a phone held tightly against her left ear. "Hi hooky!" he yelled.

"I told you not to call me that!" she yelled back, throwing a pillow at him, and missing.

"What did you call her?" Tobio asked.

"I like to tease her and call her Hooky, because of all of her boy friends." Turtle laughed. "It's short for hooker."

"What's a hooker?" Tobio asked

"Hey, I heard that!" Turtle's sister yelled from her room.

**The **boys closed the door behind them in Turtle's room and Shib hooked up the Playstation to the TV set and inserted a game disk into the machine. "I just got this fantastic car race game," he said, "up to four players at a time."

They set the machine up for three to play, Turtle had three game controllers so all three of them could battle each other. The boys selected their cars from the opening menu and took turns taking a practice run around the track before actually starting a race in earnest.

"Maybe I'll go easy on you two since you've never played this before." Turtle told Tommy and Tobio.

Right away it was obvious that this was going to be a challenging game. As soon as the starting lights ticked down and the race began, Tommy kept crashing his car into the retaining wall, or one of the extra cars operated by the computer. Turtle drove his like a maniac, cutting off other cars and causing Tommy and Tobio to crash several times. He won the first heat easily.

"Want a rematch?" he asked.

"Sure!" Tommy said. Tobio just nodded his head.

Once again the starting lights ticked down and the race began. This time things went a bit differently. Tobio skillfully weaved in and out of the field, avoiding Turtles efforts to run him off the road. It seemed that he had completely learned the game after playing it but once. His hand-eye coordination was perfect, and his car zoomed down the track at a record setting pace. He quickly had several laps on Turtle and Tommy.

"Holy crap!" Turtle yelled "you've played this game before, haven't you?"

"No." Tobio said, "This is my first time."

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. Pavilion <strong>entered Dr. O'Shay's office without knocking. "I told you that I didn't think Dr. Tenma was the right choice for the job." he said, leaning on O'Shay's desk.

"You knew damn well that Dr. Tenma was the only man who could have created the required A.I. software, and you gave your approval when the time came to hire him." O'Shay answered back without looking up at his colleague.

"Against my better judgment." Pavilion huffed. "Now our prototype is gone and we have to start over again from square one."

"You had to send the Delta force after Tenma, didn't you?" O'Shay replied. "You knew they would shoot first and ask questions later. If the job had been done more tactfully Tenma would still be alive, and the prototype would have been recovered."

"The prototype wasn't in the car." Pavilion answered back, "It's still out there somewhere."

"Well then why don't you just activate the built in tracking device?" O'Shay asked.

"I would if I could." Pavilion said. "I found this in the laboratory." He handed Dr. O'Shay a small device. "Tenma swapped out the prototype's personality module, thereby disabling the military systems modes and our remote access. We can't activate the tracking device."

"You know, I think I've figured out what Tenma was doing." O'Shay sighed. "I guess I should have noticed his behavior sooner and talked to him."

"What are you talking about?" Pavilion demanded.

"Dr. Tenma started working on our project shortly after the tragic death of his nine year old son." O'Shay explained. "When you suggested that we build the first prototype in a smaller scale, Tenma asked me if he could design the outward appearance of the prototype. We had already agreed that it would be in the form of a child, but we hadn't come up with any distinctive features. I only discovered a few days ago that Tenma's design parameters modeled our prototype to look like his dead son, Tobio."

"You mean that Tenma put his son's personality into our prototype?" Pavilion said.

"It seems so." O'Shay answered. "I think in the last few days he deluded himself into thinking that A.S.T.R.O. was really his Tobio. That would explain why he ran off with it. At least in doing so he deactivated the military systems, which means that the android won't be dangerous to the public."

"Not quite." Pavilion said. "The prototype's military systems may be off line and their access blocked to the android's conscious A.I., but they are still there in the underlying operating system. If the A.I. has to handle any stress that would correspond to a human adrenalin reaction, the military mode can be activated unconsciously without the will of the A.I. If that does happen, we will have access to the tracking systems. I'll keep our remote monitoring equipment on line full time in case that happens."


	3. The New Kid

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_3. The New Kid_

"**Don't** worry Tobio, everything will be fine!" Tommy said. "Me and Turtle will get you off on the right foot at school."

"I don't know." Tobio said. "I've never been to school before."

"Really?" Tommy asked. "You don't seem like a dummy to me."

"I bet his dad was home schooling him." Mrs. Richardson said.

"Yeah, my dad taught me everything I know." Tobio quickly replied.

"You dad must have been a genius." Tommy said.

"Yeah he was." Tobio said as he held back his tears. "I really miss him."

"Come on kids, or you'll be late for the bus!" Mr. Richardson yelled.

The three boys burst out of the front door just in time to see the taillights of the bus as it pulled away from the stop. "Not again!" Reno yelled out.

"Hey wait for us!" Tobio cried. For an instant his brown eyes glowed a dim red color as he broke into a mad dash and ran after the school bus. Both Reno and Tommy couldn't believe it as Tobio caught up with the bus, and banged on the door demanding that the driver stop. The bus driver was shocked to find a kid hanging onto the door by the fingers of both hands sticking thought the junction of the two door panels. He hit the brakes and opened the door. By the time Tobio entered the bus, Tommy and Reno had caught up with him.

"Holly Crap Tobio!" Tommy yelled, "you must have been running nearly 40 miles an hour to catch up with the bus!"

Turtle was already on the bus having got on board at the previous pickup stop. The four kids shared two empty benches across from each other.

**After** dropping the middle school kids off, the bus continued on its way. Tommy and Tobio waved goodbye to Reno as he left the bus for his school. A few blocks later they were dropped in front of the elementary school. Tommy and Turtle escorted Tobio to their classroom and Tobio took an empty seat that Mr. Clark, their teacher, had assigned him.

After introducing Tobio to the class, Mr. Clark dropped a surprise math test on the students. He handed out the exam papers. "OK, let's see how well you really studied the section of the textbook I assigned you last week." Mr. Clark said. "Tobio, I know you never got to read the textbook, but why don't you try the exam anyway so we can see what you know on the subject." Mr. Clark pointed to the clock on the wall above his desk. "Class, you have twenty minutes to complete the exam, and then we will grade each others papers."

Most of the students groaned as the exam papers were handed out, and they moaned more once they got their first look at the problems. Tobio quietly worked his pencil on the paper without any expression on his face. After five minutes he set the pencil down and sat quietly with his hands folded on the table. Mr. Clark seemed surprised to see that Tobio had finished the exam in less than half the allotted time.

"OK Class, Time's up!" Mr. Clark announced. "Exchange papers with the student in the row next to you and we will begin go correct each others exams and learn what mistakes we made!"

Tobio switched test sheets with the girl to his right and looked at her answers. He started making pencil marks on the test paper indicating which questions were incorrectly answered and what the correct result should have been. Mr. Clark noticed what he was doing and rushed over to his desk.

"What do you think you are doing son?" he demanded.

"I'm correcting the paper as you asked Sir." Tobio replied.

"But I haven't yet given out the correct answers." the teacher told him.

Tobio handed the instructor the paper he'd just marked up. "You'll notice that I've correctly graded this paper." he said. "Technically the fourth answer is correct, but there is an error in the 6th decimal place."

Mr. Clark grabbed the paper from Tobio, and also picked up the boy's exam from his partner. He quickly scanned both. His eyes started to twitch and his face turned a beet red when he noticed that Tobio's answers were, in fact, perfect.

* * *

><p><strong>Mrs. Richardson<strong> greeted Tommy and Tobio as they entered the house after Tobio's first day in school.  
>"So how did it go today Tobio?" She asked. "Do you like you teacher?" she asked.<p>

"He's OK." Tobio said, shrugging his shoulders. "But a bit strange."

"Hey mom, you should have seen Tobio outsmart Mr. Clark in class today!" Tommy butt in. "He got all the answers right on the math test and even spotted a mistake that Mr. Clark missed."

"I think I made Mr. Clark look stupid, didn't I Tommy?" Tobio sighed. "Maybe that's why his face got all red today. I'll try not to act so smart tomorrow."

"Well first of all today's Friday so there isn't any school tomorrow." Tommy told Tobio. "And second, well I guess you do need to act more like the other kids who weren't schooled by their dads."

"OK." Tobio said, nodding his head.

* * *

><p><strong>Mr. Richardson <strong>got up early on Saturday to prepare breakfast for the family as usual. Tobio and Tommy entered the kitchen together and sat down at the table. Reno was still up in his room sleeping.

"Hey Tommy," his dad asked, "You ready for our practice today? I've got most of the team showing up, we're going to bone up on our fielding and get some batting practice in. I tell you, I think we can beat the Rockets this Sunday, we need just a bit more preparation that's all."

After his dad put a plate of eggs with bacon in front of each of the boys he ran upstairs to wake Reno. Tobio noticed the look on Tommy's face and he questioned him. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"It's my dad." Tommy sighed. "He's the coach of the Bears, that's my Little League baseball team. My dad really wants us to beat the Rockets, they're a team coached by this guy my dad really hates. Problem is, my team just sucks. We can't seem to do anything right."

Mr. Richardson's footsteps on the staircase were joined by those of Reno as the two of them entered the kitchen. "Want to come see us practice?" Tommy sighed.

"Sure, why not?" Reno said, looking up from his breakfast. "Maybe I can notice what you guys are doing wrong."

"Can I come?" Tobio asked.

"Sure thing." Tommy said, "Maybe you might want to try out for a position on the team. Turtle's pitching stinks and he'd rather catch anyway."

Tobio grabbed a baseball out of the bag that Mr. Richardson had left in the hallway near the front door. He turned it over in his hand and closely examined the stitching on the cover of the ball. He then wrapped his fingers around the sphere, giving it a good feel.

"Whatcha doing?" Reno laughed, "reverse engineering the ball?"

"No, just examining it." Tobio said.

Mr. Richardson grabbed the sports bag and Tobio tossed the ball back to him to replace it inside.  
>The four of them marched out of the house and walked the half dozen avenue blocks over to the park where the ball field was. The rest of the team was already there when the Richardson's arrived. "OK guys we'll lineup for batting practice first," Robert said.<p>

Tobio sat down behind the backstop and watched. He'd never seen baseball played before and the game was totally alien to him. Turtle was pitching and he was having a hard time getting the ball over the plate. His fastball was anemic, his curve ball totally predictable, and he had no luck striking anyone out. Not that the team was able to get much wood on the ball anyway, nobody was hitting anything harder than weak grounders or pop ups.

"Totally pathetic." Robert turned around to see Clyde Windermere walking his team to the adjacent ball field. "We could show up with just half of our team and embarrass you guys." the coach of the Rockets laughed.

"Stuff it Clyde!" Robert yelled back. "One of these days!"

"Yeah, like when hell freezes over!" Clyde shot back as he and the Rockets walked away.

Turtle took his glove off and threw it to the ground. "I told you I couldn't pitch!" he yelled. "I want to catch!"

Tobio got up off the ground and and walked over to Robert. "Can I try?"

"You want to pitch?" Mr. Richardson asked. "OK, I'll get up to bat. Let's see what you can do. Turtle, you get behind the plate."

Turtle handed Tobio his glove and dug in the sports bag for a pitcher's mitt. He squatted behind the plate and tossed the ball up towards the mound. Robert Richardson picked up a bat and took up a stance beside the plate.

Turtle ran up to the plate and spoke to Tobio. "If I show one finger it's a fast ball, two for a curve, and three for slow pitch. OK?"

Tobio nodded, and Turtle walked back to his position. He signaled for a fast ball. Tobio nodded and carefully thought out the problem. He mentally calculated the distance to the plate, the windage, and the effort required. Without any fancy windup he simply leaned back and put his arm into it. The ball crossed the distance between the pitching rubber and Turtles mitt so quickly that Mr. Richardson thought he heard the crack of a sonic boom. He took a swing at the ball, and missed. Turtle caught the ball, and fell off of his feet. He rolled backwards and crashed into the backstop.

"Holly crap Tobio!" Turtle yelled. "That HURT!"

Bob put down his bat and walked over to the sports bag. He removed the cheap radar gun he had borrowed to measure the speed of a pitched ball. "Try that again, Tobio." he asked.

Turtle nervously took up his position behind the plate. Tobio aimed his throw at Turtles mitt again and fired. Bob looked at the Radar gun. The reading had gone off the scale!

"OMG!" Bob stammered. "If this radar gun isn't broken you just made Nolan Ryan look like a girl scout!"

The ball bounced out of Turtles mitt. "I think he broke my hand!" Turtle cried. "How god-damn fast did he throw it?"

"At least 110 mph" Bob gasped. "Turtle if you can figure out how to hang onto that ball and Tobio can throw that pitch 81 times in a row, we just might have a perfect game against the Rockets."

"Yeah, if one of us could hit the ball." Turtle smirked.

Tobio took off the glove and dropped the ball onto the mound. He walked towards the plate. "Can I have a turn a bat?"

"Sure, son." Mr. Richardson replied. "I'll pitch to you."

Bob got on the mound. Turtle set the batting helmet on Tobio's head and then got behind the plate. Reno stood behind the backstop watching. Tobio stepped up to the plate to bat left handed, despite the fact that he'd just been pitching as a righty. Bob didn't bother to question that, he knew a left handed batter had a slight advantage. "OK son," He said, "I'll give you my fastball first."

Bob wound up and threw a fast pitch right over the plate. Tobio swung and missed. He stood there as if analyzing what had happened, nodded and looked back at the mound. Mr. Richardson threw a curve ball, this time slightly inside. Tobio stared at the ball and his mind locked in on its trajectory. His brown eyes gave off a momentary red glow, and then faded back to normal. He swung and connected with the fat part of the bat.

CRACK!

The ball flew towards the outfield like a cannon projectile, slowly rising as it traveled. It cleared the outfield fence by a good ten feet, landing somewhere in the next field, a good 600 feet away.

"I think Tobio is going to bat cleanup tomorrow!" Bob stammered.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. O'Shay<strong> noticed a brief blip on the monitor. For a split second A.S.T.R.O.'s enhanced ability had been tapped into and he almost got a lock on him. A day later it happened again, this time twice. The blip still wasn't long enough to be useful, but it had given him a a very general track. Their robot was in the city somewhere. Still a needle in a haystack, but at least they now had found the haystack. He was about to Notify Dr. Pavilion, and then thought better of it. O'Shay felt that he owed Dr. Tenma something. He'd rather be the one to locate Tobio, he didn't like the idea of what Pavilion might do if he found the missing robot.


	4. There you are!

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_4. There you are!_

**The **Bears gathered early Sunday afternoon at the Little League ball diamond in the park. The Rockets hadn't yet arrived so they decided to get in a bit more practice. Mrs. Richardson had carefully sewed some additional padding into Turtle's catchers mitt and the boy crouched nervously behind the plate while Tobio threw a few warm up pitches. His first fastball arrived into Turtle's mitt with a loud SLAP! Using a better radar gun he'd borrowed from a policeman friend, Mr. Richardson measured its speed at 105 MPH. Turtle held on to the ball, and didn't even twitch, the extra padding was doing its job.

"Hey Tobio, try and really smoke the next one!" Turtle yelled.

"OK, you asked for it!" Tobio laughed. As he leaned back to through the next pitch his eyes glowed red for a split second and then returned to their brown color. POW! The ball smacked into Turtle's mitt and he fell over onto his back, still gripping the ball.

"Jesus Christ!" Bob yelled, that one measured 114 MPH!

"Hey Looser!" Clyde Windermere yelled as he shepherded his team onto the field. "Ready to be embarrassed again!"

"Ha!" Bob yelled back. "This time it's your turn! I have a good feeling that Karma is on our side today."

They flipped a coin and the Bears won the toss. Bob decided they'd assume the home team position and bat last. The Bears took the field. As Tobio stepped on the pitching rubber the Rockets started to chuckle.

"So you got yourself a new shrimp for a pitcher," The Rocket lead off batter laughed. "This is going to be good!"

"Bite your tongue asshole!" Turtle yelled back.

He gave Tobio the signal for an inside atomic fastball. Kurt Maxwell, the lead off batter pounded his bat on the plate a few times, swung it up to his shoulder and leaned toward the plate while glaring at the pitcher. "Hey shrimp, bet you can't even reach the plate with your pitch!" He laughed.

Tobio felt a bit of anger rise inside of him and his eyes glowed red again as he wound up. Turtle held his mitt positioned inside the strike zone at eye level. Tobio took careful aim and fired a cannon shot. The ball flew past Maxwell's face, missing his nose by half a millimeter. The obnoxious boy felt the wind kicked up by the super fast ball, and he fell over backwards as he flinched out of the way. Turtle's hand smarted despite the extra padding. Bob stood on the side with the radar gun which measured 117 MPH!

"That ball hit me!" Kurt yelled.

"Did not!" Turtle and Tobio yelled.

The umpire standing behind the plate shook his head no. He indicated the pitch was high however, "BALL ONE!"

Turtle tossed the ball back to the mound and got back in position behind the plate. He signaled for a curve ball. Tobio rolled the ball over in his hands examining the stitching. He carefully placed his fingers on the ball and cocked his hand as he reared back and threw the ball. The pitch flew way outside a straight path towards the plate on a trajectory taking it several feet to the right of the plate. About three quarters of the way in it suddenly switched directions and made a beeline for turtle's mitt passing over the rear right corner of the plate. Kurt ignored it. The radar gun measured 94 mph!

"STRIKE ONE!" the umpire yelled.

"Hey that pitch was outside!" Kurt yelled to the umpire.

"Nope!" the official said, "It caught the corner of the plate."

The next two pitches were atomic fastballs right though the heart of the strike zone. Kurt swung and missed both.

"YERE OUT!" the ump yelled.

Six more pitches latter the Rockets took the field. Bob glanced at Clyde and stuck his tongue out at him. As Tobio walked toward the dugout he passed Mitch Stern who was the Rocket's pitcher who stuck out his foot and tripped Tobio. Tobio picked himself up and sat down on the bench.

"Those bastards are not very sportsman like." Turtle told Tobio. "I hope we cream them today!"

Dick Murphy and Lee Smith were the first two batters for the Bears. Dick struck out after fowling off a dozen pitches, while Lee was thrown out at first base. Turtle now took his first at bat. He was still angry at Mitch's tripping Tobio and wanted revenge. He waited for his pitch and continued to fowl off inside pitches which landed out of reach of any of the Rocket fielders. After a long battle with the pitcher he finally drew a walk and took first base.

Now Tobio took his position at the plate. He batted left handed which raised eyebrows on the Rockets faces. "You've got yourself a midget switch hitter I see!" Clyde yelled at Bob. "Bet he can't hit!"

Mitch sneered at Tobio and threw a fastball way inside that would have beaned the boy had Tobio not leaned back in reflex and fell over. He got back up and dusted himself off. His eyes glowed red, he wanted revenge! The next pitch was also inside but Tobio saw it coming and took a step back. He swung at the ball and connected with the fat end of the bat. The solid line drive flew low along the ground striking Mitch Stern on the side of his leg, knee high. Mitch hit the ground in pain as the ball shot past him heading for the outfield. Like a pinball it bounced off of several of the outfielders who tried to catch it and ended up in the far right field corner. Turtle and Tobio took off like a shot running the bases. Turtle had to pour on the coals to avoid being ran over by Tobio who was clearly faster on his feet than his friend. The Rockets outfield ran after the ball and attempted to relay it back to the plate. Turtle and Tobio crossed over home plate milliseconds apart as the baseball arrived in the catchers mitt.

"SAFE!" The umpire cried.

Clyde Windermere dropped the cigar out of his mouth, and thew his cap to the ground. "Shit!" he yelled, "A god dammed two run, inside the park home run!"  
>He finally noticed his star pitcher being carried off the mound by two of his team mates.<p>

"I think my leg is broken!" Mitch cried rubbing the spot where the ball had hit him. He dropped his pants to examine the area which was now quite swollen. They opened the water jug and fished out a bucket full of ice to apply to the injury.

"Don't look broken" Clyde said, "But you better sit the rest of the game out."

Bob smirked and giggled. The game now appeared to be within reach.

The Rockets put up Allen Levy, their second string pitcher. Tommy was up next and grounded out to third base. The Bears took the field for the top of the second inning, now leading 2 to nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. O'Shay<strong> watched on his computer monitor as the tracking application kept beeping. There had been three more blips as ASTRO's tracking system had responded. The robot had tapped into its military mode briefly several times, the last time for nearly 15 seconds. He now had a good fix on the missing android, and locked it in on his portable tracker. The location was within Central Park, if he hurried he could be there in under an hour and a half. O'Shay ran from the building, being careful not to run into Dr. Pavilion. He grabbed Yuko Kisagar, his assistant, and the two of them sped out of the complex in the doctor's Tesla sedan. They roared north on the NJTP, Yuko kept watch on the screen of the portable tracker.

**The **score stood at 2-0 as Tobio continued to keep the Rockets from scoring. He let up a bit on his fastball at Turtles instance. "Don't show off too much Tobio," He said, "No one likes anybody that is too perfect. Make a few mistakes now and then and people will like you better." So Tobio let a few of the Rockets reach first base. He walked a few batters, and allowed a few grounders and weak line drives to be hit, which the Bears infield managed to contain.

It was now the top of the ninth inning and the Rockets were facing their last chance at bat. Bob Richardson was feeling great.

Kurt Maxwell drew a walk after a good battle of pitches. Tobio allowed two more hard ground balls to be hit, which resulted in the bases now being loaded with two outs. Turtle walked to the mound to talk with his pitcher. "Make it look good Tobio." he said.

Tobio pitched around Dirk Kussler, the Rockets right fielder. He was their power hitter, Tobio had held him at bay for the entire game, not allowing him to get any wood on the ball. Dirk had a good eye, and he finally figured out Tobio's curve ball. With a count of strike two, he reached out and made contact with an 88 mph breaking ball and smacked it past the Bears shortstop. Tobio ran off the mound and took off into the outfield. Glenn Sherman, the Bears center fielder, managed to grab the ball, but his arm wasn't up to the task of throwing it all the way home. Two runs had already scored when Tobio caught the relay and fired it toward the plate into Turtles waiting mitt at 120 MPH. Turtle stood in front of the plate and managed to hold onto the red hot relay. He rolled over on his back and tagged what would have been the go ahead run out at the plate.

As the Rockets took the field in the bottom of the ninth inning, one of them kicked a bat into Tobio's path back to the dugout. It hit him in the ankle, and he fell over rubbing the injured area. A small rumble erupted on the field over the incident which resulted in Turtle receiving a black eye, and one of the Rocket players being ejected from the game.

After twenty minutes of yelling by the coaches with Clyde and Bob almost meeting with fisticuffs, the game finally restarted. Dick and Lee both struck out for the Bears and it was Tobio's turn at bat.

Edward Sobalow, the Rockets third pitcher of the game, quickly tried to bean Tobio with his first two pitches that nearly knocked him over. Tobio quickly felt his anger rising, his eyes were now glowing a bright red and his auburn hair had turned a dark black. His cap stuck up as his two cowlicks had turned into sharpened points lifting the cap up above his head. In an act of defiance, he used his pinkie finger to pull down his lower right eyelid as he stared at the pitcher. Ed noticed the glare in his opponents face and he suddenly felt scared.

* * *

><p><strong>The <strong>Tesla automobile entered the park and road towards the parking area reserved for holders of special permits. Dr. O'Shay and Yuko ran towards the ball field as the tracking device locked in on ASTROs signal, now full strength.

"There he is!" Yuko pointed seeing Tobio standing in the batting position at home plate.

* * *

><p><strong>T<strong>he pitch was a fastball just over the outside corner of the plate. With his anger boiling Tobio swung the bat using all of his available strength. There was a loud CRACK! as the tip of the bat broke the sound barrier and the fat part smacked the ball. The leather spheroid blasted away from the plate at Mach 2 and quickly disappeared from sight. (It was later found by maintenance crews buried deep in the side of the spire of the Chrysler building.) Tobio danced around the bases as he enjoyed smirking at the Rockets. His solo home run ended the game with the Bears defeating the Rockets with a final score of 3-2. The Bears picked Tobio up and carried him over their heads parading past the Rockets dugout. "WE WON!" they cried out. "Tobio is our hero!"

Bob Richardson packed up the equipment and stuffed it into the large duffel bag he'd brought with him. After a mutual round of congratulations the team broke up to go home their separate ways. Mr. Richardson, Tommy and Tobio headed for the park exit where an older balding man with a large nose and a young woman were standing.

"Hello," The man said. "I'm Dr. O'Shay and this is my assistant Yuko Kisagar. I'm actually Tobio's Godfather, Dr. Tenma was a very good friend of mine. I've been looking for the boy ever since I heard of his untimely death."

Tobio looked at the old man and stared at his face. The balding head with its two large puffs of white hair over his ears looked familiar to him. "I think I do remember you sir," he said, "You knew my father?"

"Yes, Tobio I did." Dr. O'Shay said. "Your father once asked me if I'd be willing to take care of you in the event anything happened to him. Of course I told him I would. I'm very glad I've found you. I've come to take you home with me."

Dr. O'Shay bent down with outstretched arms and motioned for the boy to come closer. The boy accepted his embrace and returned it. His inner senses told him that this was a good person and he felt safe with him.

"Why don't we drive back to your house in my car," Dr. O'Shay said, "we can discuss Tobio's well being there."

The five of them got into the Tesla and drove the few blocks towards the Richardson's brownstone house. Dr. O'Shay found a parking spot about a half a block away and they walked back to the house and walked in.

Dr. O'Shay showed the Richardson's his identification and produced pictures of himself with Dr. Tenma and Tobio to prove his story. After a lengthy conversation during which he answered quite a few questions posed by Mrs. Richardson, Tobio packed up his things and agreed to go home with his Godfather.

"Why don't you call your friend Turtle and ask him to come over to say goodbye?" Mrs. Richardson said. Tobio picked up the phone to call Turtle and he told him that he was going to live with his Godfather. Turtle wished Tobio good luck and said goodbye on the phone, but he didn't want to come over for some reason.

Reno had been watching from the staircase, and he came down and gave Tobio a hug goodbye. He walked outside as the Tobio got into the car with Yuko and Dr. O'Shay. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson held hands and watched as Tobio drove away with Dr. O'Shay. Ellen Richardson had tears in her eyes as the car drove off heading for the George Washington Bridge.


	5. ASTRO not Tobio

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_5. ASTRO not Tobio_

**ASTRO** was strapped to the exam board next to the equipment rack. He stood there wearing only his red boots and a pair of black pants with a wide green band. His chest panel was open and a several heavy cables connected his inside circuits to the computer equipment. Although his eyes were closed he was aware of his surroundings.

Dr. O'Shay held a clipboard as he examined the computer readouts. Yuko Kisagar walked into the laboratory and looked over his shoulders.  
>"How is our prototype?" She asked. "Any worse for the wear?"<p>

"Absolutely fascinating." O'Shay replied. "The number of new neural pathways that have opened up in his AI is incredible. You know, we've been trying to develop robots with the ability to learn from their surroundings for quite some time. It's easy to download new knowledge into a robotic AI, but quite difficult to program a machine to actually learn from its experiences. Dr. Tenma programed a version of ASTRO's AI to have the memories of his late son, and also some of the boys Kokoro. During the week that our prototype was loose in the world as Tobio, it has managed to absorb more information on its own than during all of our efforts over the past six months since it was first activated."

"I can't wait to hear what Dr. Pavilion will say about that." Yuko said.

"Knowing him, I'm sure he won't be impressed at all." O'Shay sighed.

"What won't I be impressed with?"

Yuko and Dr. O'Shay turned to see that their colleague and supervisor had just entered the room.

"I guess I am impressed that you managed to recover our missing prototype." Pavilion said. "But I'm afraid that it may be a bit too late."

"What do you mean by that?" O'Shay asked.

"Well the military brass that are funding our project were never too keen on the idea of building the prototype in the form of a child." Pavilion said. "They did go along with your suggestion that it could be a short cut to developing the kind of systems that they were looking for, but after Tenma ran off with it and it was missing for over a week they have indicated to me that they'd like us to move along and start work on the full up model."

"Well that's good." O'Shay replied. "It means that we'll have the funding to continue the project. I can use ASTRO here as a control element to insure that the full up prototype is correctly brought on line."

"That isn't what our superiors want." Pavilion replied. "You will have two days to download whatever you can from ASTRO, and then you are to dismantle it. We will use some of its parts in the full up model. Its AI core is to be wiped and destroyed."

"WHAT!" O'Shay cried out. "That's Murder!"

"Murder?" Pavilion asked. "It's only a robot, not a living thing."

"I'm not so sure of that." O'Shay said. "You haven't looked at the data I've already recovered from him. It's incredible. Tobio has the soul of a real little boy."

"Tobio?" Pavilion laughed. "Don't tell me that Tenma's illness has infected you?"

"I'm going to need more time!" O'Shay pleaded. "There is much valuable data that I want to retrieve from ASTRO, two days won't be enough!"

"General Hayes will be here by the end of the week to inspect our progress." Pavilion said curtly. "I expect that robot to be in pieces by the time he arrives."

Dr. Pavilion walked out and slammed the door behind him.

"That stupid bastard!" O'Shay muffed. He pulled out his Blackberry phone and flipped through the electronic notebook, and then jotted some information onto a post it note which he handed to his assistant. "Yuko, would you contact the Richardson's. I'd like to invite them here for a visit."

"You want to bring civilians into this complex?"

"My position here gives me the right to invite anyone I want into this facility, so long as I escort them." O'Shay replied.

"Very well." Yuko smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>The <strong>olive drab limo rolled over the George Washington Bridge and onto the NJTP. Robert and Ellen Richardson sat together holding hands. In the seat behind them were Tommy, Reno, and Turtle. Tommy insisted that his friend come along when they got the phone call from Yuko inviting them to visit with Tobio.

The Army VIP vehicle entered through the front gate of the complex without stopping, as the guard at the entrance opened it as soon as he saw the limo with the flags mounted on the fenders approaching. It entered an underground garage and two MP's escorted the five guests to the main lobby where Dr. O'Shay and Yuko Kisagar were waiting for them.

"What is this place?" Tommy asked.

"This is a research facility." O'Shay explained as they entered the main hallway. "Here we develop advanced cybernetic systems and do research in advanced computer artificial intelligence.

"You mean robots?" Reno asked.

"Yes, though most of our research doesn't involve actual androids." Yuko smiled.

"So where is Tobio?" Turtle asked.

"I'm right here!" a voice echoed over the intercom.

"Follow me." Dr. O'Shay told them. He led them into a large computer center. The room had a raised floor upon which sat a large complex of mainframe computer hardware. Disk drives, memory cabinets, and multiple processor racks filled the room.

"Tobio isn't really completely human." Dr. O'Shay explained. The voice you heard is his, he's currently inside of this mainframe computer where I've uploaded his A.I. for examination.

"What?" Reno asked.

"Here, let me show you." Dr. O'Shay said.

He led them towards the far wall which was actually a window looking down into a lower level room. The boy they had known as Tobio was now strapped onto an examination table connected up to a large mini computer by a half dozen thick cables.

"Hi Tommy!" Tobio's voice came from a computer terminal along the wall.

"Here, you can talk to him from the keyboard." Dr. O'Shay explained.

Reno placed his fingers on the keyboard and typed "Hello Tobio, is that you down there?"

"Hi Reno!" Tobio's voice came from the speakers and his words typed onto the screen. "Thanks for coming to visit me. I missed you guys."

"What is he?" Mr. Richardson asked.

"The boy you see down there in the laboratory is really an advanced android, a robot." Dr. O'Shay replied. You knew him as Tobio, but his real name is Astro, or actually A.S.T.R.O." He pointed to the sign that was attached to one of the computer mainframes that had that very name in big black letters.

"It stands for Autonomous Sentient Tactical Robotic Ordnance," he explained.

"That make him sound like some kind of weapon!" Mr. Richardson said.

"Yes, I suppose it does." Dr. O'Shay explained. "ASTRO was the prototype for a future robotic super soldier. The idea was to make a humanoid system that could operate any of our armed forces weapons systems that are currently configured to be maned by human soldiers. The Army wants to replace front line combat tropes with robots, taking our men out of the riskiest jobs."

**Dr.** O'Shay picked up the intercom phone and spoke briefly to the technicians in the room below them. He then motioned for their guests to follow them as they walked downstairs. They entered the room that they had just seen from the window. Tobio was now disconnected from the computers and was sitting at a table playing with a Rubik's cube puzzle. Tommy reached over to touch his friend who smiled at him.

"Are you OK, Tobio?" Tommy asked.

"I'm fine, but as you now know my real name is Astro." he said.

"Didn't you know you were a robot?" Reno asked.

"I guess I had lost some of my memory when I was staying with you." Astro said.

"What about your dad?" Mr. Richardson asked. "Was that just a lie?"

"No, Dr. Tenma was really my dad, in a way." Astro explained. "He and Dr. O'Shay built me so both of them are really my fathers. Dr. Tenma really did have a son named Tobio, and I have his memories. I still feel like I am Tobio because I remember everything that he did."

"You see," Dr. O'Shay explained, "The human senses are the most powerful input device that can be connected to a robotic AI. When Dr. Tenma added his late son's Kokoro to ASTROs programming, he enabled him to see the world as a human boy would. He's learned about his surroundings so fast that we hoped we could use that ability to help us program future robots that need to perform human tasks. Tenma accidentally created something here that we don't yet fully understand. Unfortunately, I don't think the military brass that are funding this project appreciate that discovery." He kept the rest of his train of thought to himself as Yuko elbowed him and gave him a look that said 'Shut Up!'.

The Richardsons and Turtle spent a few hours visiting with Tobio and were then escorted out of the facility into the limo that was waiting to take them back home. Dr. O'Shay and Astro watched the vehicle disappear down the main road and returned into the complex. Astro returned to the laboratory where he was reconnected to the mainframe computers to continue the upload of his memory store, Dr. O'Shay and Yuko watched from outside the room though a one way mirror.

"What were you thinking?" Yuko asked. "I had to stop you or you would have told them that their foster son was scheduled to be dismantled."

"I don't know," O'Shay said, "But I thought they should know. Maybe they might complain to their congressman or something. We've got to figure out a way to save him, he's not just a machine anymore, I think Astro is actually a living thing now. Once you can't tell the difference, what difference is there?


	6. Escape

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_6. Escape_

**Dr. **Pavilion picked through the pile of parts lying on the table. Dr. O'Shay had a forlorn look on his face, while Yuko tried to maintain an expressionless appearance on hers.

"I hope you're satisfied." O'Shay told his supervisor. I feel rather unclean at the moment."

"It seems to be all here." Pavilion said after a very quick examination of the pile of parts. "General Hayes will be here in an hour to check on our progress with the all up model. I hope you have something to show him."

"Mostly just blueprints and CAD drawings." O'Shay replied, "Though we should have the first assemblies ready for his inspection by then, though they are not very much to look at."

"That should do." Pavilion answered. "Look O'Shay, I know you were close with Tenma and that he had asked you to be his son's Godfather. The ASTRO prototype did resemble his son so I do get it. But that robot was NOT your godson, it was a very expensive pile of parts and assemblies, many of which are top secret. There wasn't any other way."

"Of course." O'Shay nodded. He couldn't help noticing the small amount of tears in Pavilion's eyes.

"I'll bring the General by your laboratory in about an hour." Dr. Pavilion said as he exited the room.

"So far so good." Yuko said. "Good thing Pavilion didn't examine that pile of parts more carefully."

"Amen to that." O'Shay replied. "Those were mostly the burned out and obsolete versions of the first assemblies that we installed in ASTRO. I kept them as examples for later troubleshooting. Cleaned up they did look brand new but I never expected Pavilion to be fooled by them."

"If they passed his inspection, the odds are good that the General won't notice either." Yuko added.

"I'm more worried about having something to show the General when he arrives," O'Shay told his assistant. "He's more interested in schedules and results than the technology inside."

"Not to worry there." Yuko smiled. "I've prepared a computer slide show for him that will knock his socks off. We've had the full up skeleton ready to go for a few weeks now and we are the only two people that have seen it. That alone should impress the general enough to get him off our backs. I also have several of ASTRO's spares installed in the framework. We'll actually look like we are already ahead of schedule by a few days."

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Yuko." O'Shay smiled.

"After General Hayes is finished inspecting our laboratory, he'll probably be kept busy by Pavilion in the factory floor." Yuko explained. "Our Fearless Leader wants to butter him up by showing him just how we can produce the final product. Pavilion really wants that extended manufacturing contract."

"Good. No one will be looking for us for the rest of the day." O'Shay said. "That's when I'll take my early leave."

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay made sure that he was alone in his office and that his tie in to the mainframe computer was secure. He nervously typed into the secure SSH session.

"_You OK son?"_

"_Yes Hakase. I hope we get away with this."_

He closed down the connection and opened the cad program. The startup configuration file loaded Yuko's latest elements. Behind his back, O'Shay could hear the elevator in the hallway coming up to his floor. He glanced at his watch and realized that the General was due any moment. "Yuko, It's show time," he yelled.

* * *

><p><strong>General <strong>Hayes listened attentively to Yuko's narration accompanied by the slide show on the wall mounted large screen monitor. His face showed no emotion, no hint of his satisfaction or displeasure, if any. "Very good." He finally announced at the end of the presentation. "I'm glad that you people are on track here. How about the reuse of the parts from the first prototype?"

"Well as you saw in some of the photos I took of the first skeleton assembly, some of them are already in place." Yuko quickly explained. "The rest are back in storage."

"I'd like to see the inventory storage area." The General said. "I want to make sure that you have everything in order for accelerating the project."

Dr. Pavilion opened the door to the conference room and motioned for the General to follow him. Dr. O'Shay and Yuko followed behind them as they entered the prototype area and walked through the storage area. The General stopped at a few locations to examine some items on the storage shelves, but he didn't look past the labels. He seemed more interested in the fact that no shelf space was empty, or low in stock of any items, rather than the condition of any of the parts. O'Shay breathed a sigh of relief as they headed towards the factory floor.

"If you don't need me anymore, I'd like to get back to the laboratory." O'Shay told Pavilion.

"I think I can accommodate the General for the rest of his stay." Pavilion replied.

General Hayes extended his hand to O'Shay. "Thank you for your time, Doctor." He said. "Goodbye, till our next inspection."

O'Shay and Yuko turned around and headed back to the laboratory.

"Is he ..." O'Shay started to ask.

"He's locked in the trunk of your car, in low power standby." Yuko said. "Good luck."

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay's car was parked in the sub-basement level of the garage. He slowly navigated the winding passageway toward the surface, finally coming to the exit gate. He inserted his pass card into the gate machine and waited for the computer to recognize his clearance. After several agonizing seconds the gate arm went up and he drove out of the garage towards the main road.

Once again he arrived at a checkpoint, this time maned by man in an MP uniform. Although the guard had seen him come and go many times before, he still requested the doctor's ID badge and swiped it into the computer reader to obtain clearance. O'Shay nervously drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, something he usually never did. He realized this and quickly sat on his hands. He looked up at the guard who had his eyes on the computer console all the time. Finally, the MP handed O'Shay back his ID card and pressed the button to open the gate. "Have a good day, Dr. O'Shay," he said.

The doctor gave the guard a wave of his hand and put the automobile into motion. He drove through the gate and turned onto the two lane state highway, heading towards the NJTP. Once he was about a mile from the complex he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small fob. He pressed two buttons on the device sending a short range radio signal that was picked up by ASTRO's telemetry system. The robot woke up. ASTRO pulled on the release cable to open the passageway from the trunk into the vehicles rear seat. He pushed the passenger side seat back cushion down and crawled out of the trunk into the back seat.

"Hello O'Shay-Hakase" Astro said.

"Hello son." O'Shay replied. "So far it looks like we are in the clear. I hope we can give the Richardson's a nice surprise in a few hours."

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>Pavilion watched from the window of the factory floor as Dr. O'Shay's car left the compound. "You stupid old fool," he thought to himself, "I hope you get away with this."

Pavilion hadn't been fooled by O'Shay's and Yuko's subterfuge. He kept quiet when they showed him the pile of parts, and he carefully steered the General around the facility so that he'd only see what they wanted him to see. So far, it was working. Pavilion had been monitoring when O'Shay and Yuko had brought the Richardson's into the facility to visit. He'd seen their prototype interact with the family as a son and he realized that like it or not, Tenma had caused an accidental miracle. Secretly he agreed with O'Shay, but he wasn't in a position to stick his own neck out, and had hoped that the old fool would gladly put his on the chopping block, which O'Shay had done. Now Pavilion was doing his best to give O'Shay and Astro the room they needed to pull the plot off.

* * *

><p><strong>General <strong>Hayes wandered about the factory floor inspecting the various stations. One of his concerns had been that this facility could turn out the required number of super soldier robots under the A.S.T.R.O. program guidelines. So far he was satisfied that Pavilions people could do the design work, and produce enough beta units for the first and second waves of testing. Beyond that, they'd need to expand the place, but there was room room on the grounds for expansion.

The only fly in the ointment had been that damn child prototype. He had agreed to a small scale mock up, but not built in the image of some insane scientists dead kid. If that any news of that thing got out there would be problems, it had to be destroyed. The General wasn't completely satisfied with the assurances of Pavilion and O'Shay that the prototype didn't still exist, but he did recognize some of the parts that had come from the other contractors for that first unit now installed in the first pass of the full up model.

Hayes waited for Pavilion to be distracted with his normal routine and then took that opportunity to sneak off. He found a computer terminal and entered his military back door pass code. He searched for recent activity, looking for core dumps and downloads. Quickly, he saw the traces that told him the prototype's memory cores had been downloaded into secure storage. Hayes was almost completely relieved and was about to log off when he noticed two lines at the bottom of the printout. He called up the secret back door logger that the CIA had installed for him into the otherwise secure system to look for the session log on those two SSH sessions. The first was just the monitor demon session used to access A.S.T.R.O.s AI brain dump. The second was a short conversation timestamped only hours ago.

"_Yes Hakase. I hope we get away with this."_

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>Pavilion and Yuko found themselves facing a very red faced General Hayes.

"What the God Damned hell is going on here!" the General roared. "You knew Dr. O'Shay didn't destroy that prototype as I ordered, and you're helping him secret it out of here?"

Yuko opened her mouth to say something, but Pavilion clamped his right hand over it to silence her.

"General, that prototype isn't what we designed. When Dr. Tenma ran off with it, he first made some modifications that resulted in a very unusual accident. He changed the robot's AI into something that we've been trying to achieve for years, something that everyone claimed was impossible. That "S" in ASTRO referred to our hopes that the soldier bots would be self adaptive to conditions outside of their programming, but we never really hoped that we could create a sentiment being. In his grieving madness, Tenma actually achieved this. He modified that robot to become his missing child, and it seems that he succeeded beyond his and our wildest dreams. I can show you footage of its interaction with a family."

Yuko bit the hand over her mouth and yanked it away.

"You were recording that visit?" She yelled.

"Yes!" Pavilion roared back. "I know you and O'Shay think of me as a heartless pencil pusher, but I'm a scientist too! I simply know who is buttering my bread and I don't make waves."

The General's face was still beet red. "I don't give a damn what you eggheads think, that prototype represents a lot of sensitive hardware that can't be allowed to fall into unfriendly hands, even if it does look and act like someone's dead kid!"

Hayes pulled a secure phone from his pocket and punched in a few numbers. Seconds later a half dozen MP's stormed into the room.

"I'm putting you two under house arrest." Hayes steamed. " I'm ordering the marines into the act, and I'm going to have that idiot scientist and our prototype located. This ends now!"

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay's car pulled onto the NJTP heading north. He was in the western half of the divided toll road, in the non-commercial lanes. Traffic was light, and he was being careful not to exceed the speed limit. Suddenly a dark shadow passed overhead, and the car was blow across two lanes of traffic. O'Shay fought for control as the Apache helicopter gunship took up a position behind his vehicle.

"Pull over doctor, I've got you in my sights." The voice of the helicopter's pilot roared from two bullhorn speakers mounted on the aircraft's lower skids.

"I'm sorry, Tobio." O'Shay said as he let up on the accelerator and started to pull the car over to the side of the road, "I don't know what to do."

"NO!" Astro yelled. His brown eyes glowed fire red, and his brown hair turned a dark black as his cowlicks thickened into sharp spikes. He looked behind at the gunship that was only a few hundred feet behind them. Astro bent down to point his buttocks at the rear window. The barrels of two machine guns popped out of his posterior and he aimed at the aircraft using the heads up display that now filled his field of view. He carefully targeted the flying machine's two turbine engines and fired. Several dozen shells flew through the rear wind screen of the car at 1000 rounds per minute, bits of broken glass filled the inside of the vehicle. The gunship lost engine power and its pilot fought the controls to auto giro the machine to a safe landing on the side of the road.

O'Shay was startled at the sound of the gunfire, he first thought that his car had been hit by rounds from the helicopter. When he saw the smoking gunship land hard on the road besides him, he realized that the gunfire had been going in the opposite direction!

"What did you do!" he yelled.

"I don't know!" Astro yelled back, "It was a reflex action, I had to defend myself!"

O'Shay pushed the accelerator to the floor. That helicopter wasn't going to be the only thing the military would throw at them. He wanted to get into the city as fast as possible. Maybe they wouldn't try shooting at him in the middle of a crowed city.

* * *

><p><strong>General <strong> Hayes didn't take the news very well. He'd hoped to make a clean recovery, but this changed everything. "That prototype of your's is fully activated." Hayes yelled to Pavilion and Yuko as he activated his phone.  
>"There is no way we can stop it, that robot has us out gunned, even if it doesn't know it yet. As long as it's with O'Shay we have a chance though. I think we may need the help of local law enforcement."<p> 


	7. Chased

**A.S.T.R.O.**

_7. Chased_

**For **the moment it seemed that they were again in the clear. "Reach into my pocket and grab my cellphone." The doctor told Astro. "Send the Richardson's a text message and let them know to expect you." Astro quickly typed out a message to Tommy. When he was finished he opened the panel in his chest and placed the phone inside.

**They **hadn't gone more than a few more miles when a New Jersey state trouper going southbound on the N.J.T.P. spotted Dr. O'Shay's car going northbound. He hit his lights and siren and made a bat turn, crossing the grassy medium between the two sides of the roadway, and after nearly overturning his squad car trying to get back on the road took up the chase. He soon caught up with the doctor's car and ordered him to pull over on his bullhorn.

"Now what?" O'Shay wondered glancing in his rear view mirror as Astro glared out the shattered rear window at their pursuer. The boy robot morphed his left arm into a surge cannon and fired it nearly point blank into the front of the Ford police interceptor. A cloud of steam erupted from the 6 inch wide hole that was blasted into the vehicle's radiator. The trooper radioed in his condition as he pulled his mortally wounded automobile out of the travel lanes.

"Good work, son." O'Shay said, "I'm glad you're trying not to hurt anybody, but I'm afraid that there were soon be a lot more police chasing us soon, maybe even a road block. I don't know how we are going to escape. Look what they did to Dr. Tenma."

"Not on my watch!" Astro said sternly.

**It** didn't take long before the Doctor's prediction came to pass. Up ahead he could see a sea of red and blue strobe lights. The expanse of all four northbound lanes of the interstate ahead of them were blocked by a dozen or so Police interceptors, and a few commandeered trucks.

"I can't go though that!" O'Shay said. "I'm going to have to stop."

"NO!" Astro yelled, "Keep going! I'll take care of this!"

He crawled out of the shattered rear window and pulled himself onto the roof of the car, where he lay spread eagle facing forward holding onto the side edges of the roof along the top of the windows. The bottoms of his red boots opened up and the nozzles of jet engines poked out of the bottom of his legs. Astro took to the sky, flying the automobile over the roadblock.

* * *

><p><strong>General <strong>Hayes was in one of the state police interceptors. He stepped out of the vehicle and watched as O'Shay's car approached. "We got him now," a burly looking police sergeant told him. The General said nothing as he chewed on the end of a large unlit cigar clamped between his teeth. That cigar dropped out of his mouth which hung wide open as he watched the car lift off the road and zoom over their heads.

"Damn it, they're getting away!" he yelled pulling his service revolver from its holster. The General and several of the police officers fired several dozen rounds at the rapidly receding target, apparently to no avail as it disappeared in the distance.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay moaned as he felt the pain of a 38 caliber slug tear though his back. Astro felt several bullets ricochet off of his body, and he heard the doctor's cry of pain. He quickly set the automobile down and pulled open the driver's side door.

"How badly are you hurt, Dr. O'Shay?" he asked.

The doctor was still conscious, but his coat was soaked with his blood. Astro looked inside the doctor's body using his thermal vision, and saw that no vital organs had been hit, but the bullet was still lodged somewhere near the doctor's gut. Astro removed the doctors jacket and shirt, and tore the latter into a wide band that he used as a pressure bandage over the entrance wound to try and stop the bleeding. It was a stop gap measure at best, O'Shay would need a surgeon in short order.

"There is a Japanese doctor friend of mine who lives in a house on the edge of the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River," O'shay said in a weak voice. "His name is Kuro, but he calls himself Blackjack."

"Don't worry, I'll get you to him." Astro said.

The boy robot lifted the automobile from underneath and took off again. He quickly reached 600 mph and flew toward the high cliffs at the edge of the river. As he looked down he could see the single story wooden frame house that served as Dr. Blackjack's home and clinic. Astro set the automobile down in the driveway and ran up the wooden steps to the house's porch and banged on the door.

"Blackjack Sensei !" he yelled, O'Shay Hakase needs your help!"

The door opened a crack as a small girl about half a head shorter than Astro looked out. "Sensei!" she yelled over her shoulder, "Someone needs your help!"

The doctor ran to the door, Astro was already running back to the car. The two of them carried O'Shay into the operating room. While the doctor changed into his scrubs, his young assistant began to undress the patient and sterilize his wounds. Astro watched with concern, tears were building up in his eyes. "Don't worry,", Pinoko told him, "Sensei won't let him die."

The doctor entered the O.R. and started to put a breath mask over O'Shay's mouth and nose to administer anesthesia. With the last of his strength the doctor whispered to Astro, "You'd better get rid of my car. They will be looking for it from the air." Astro nodded and walked out of the room. Dr. Blackjack called out to him, "Wait outside, I'll let you know when I'm finished treating him. Don't worry, he'll be OK."

Astro ran down the stairs toward the automobile. He lifted it into the air and dropped it into the middle of the river and watched it sink to the bottom. As soon as he landed on the front porch of the doctor's house several F18 fighters roared overhead. Astro ducked inside the house, he hoped they hadn't spotted him.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay was in surgery for nearly two hours as Kuro removed two bullets from his abdomen, one was from a policeman's 38 caliber police weapon, the other from the general's 45 caliber service revolver. That second slug had caused more damage and the surgeon had to repair a torn artery that had almost caused the doctor to bleed to death. The door to the operating room opened and Dr. Blackjack walked out as he removed his surgical cap and mask.

"Our friend had a bad GSW, but I managed to repair the damage." He told Astro. "He'll be alright, but he should remain here for a few days to recuperate."

"I need to get away from here." Astro said. "I don't know if the Army can track me, and I don't want to put you in any danger." As he spoke the sound of a pair of fighter jet aircraft flying overhead shook the foundation of the house.

"I see what you mean." the doctor said.

Astro looked out of the window as the military aircraft made another pass and then disappeared into the distance. "I think I have an idea." He said, "But it's going to be a little tricky."

"Yeah, I think I know what you have in mind." Kuro said. "Be careful."

"I will be." Astro said. "Tell O'Shay Hakase I said thanks."

* * *

><p><strong>Astro<strong> stepped out of the house and scanned the sky looking for his pursuers. He spotted the pair of F18 Hornets several miles away. Taking a deep breath, Astro leaped skyward and flew towards the George Washington Bridge. His built in radar tracking sensed the emissions from the aircraft's targeting radar and he knew they had spotted him. He gave chase flying north. The two fighters closed in on him as he zoomed over the Tappan Zee Bridge. Astro increased his speed as he flew higher leaving a sonic boom in his wake as he sped past the sound barrier. The two fighters went to their afterburners and kept on his tail.

Suddenly, Astro turned 180 degrees and flew past the two jets to make a tight circle around them. Now traveling at Mach 4 he created a shock wave that caused the fighters to tumble from the sky and spiral down toward the river below. Astro laughed to himself, thinking "Now I've got their attention!"

He waited to make sure they hadn't lost him as he flew south again. Astro's radar sense detected a weapons lock on him as the Hornets armed their AIM-7 Sparrow A-A missiles. "This is going to be close." Astro thought as he readied his digibeam lasers. His heads up display popped into view as he saw the two rockets heading towards him. He waited till the last second to fire his lasers at the warheads to detonate them at nearly point blank range.

"Got Him!" Cowboy said over the radio. "He's hit and going down!" Maverick added. The two fighter pilots circled around watching as their target fell out of the sky and splashed into the Hudson river, rapidly sinking below the surface. An inky oil film covered the surface where the flying robot had hit the water.

"Return to base." General Hayes ordered over the car radio. "Good job!"

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong> O'Shay sat in the storage area of the research facility with Dr. Pavilion and Yuko. All three of them were handcuffed and sitting in wooden chairs. General Hayes entered the room accompanied by a pair of MP's. "You did the right thing turning yourself in Dr. O'Shay," The General said. "It was a really stupid idea running off with that prototype robot. I should have you facing all sorts of federal charges, maybe even treason." Hayes turned to face Pavilion and Yuko, "and the two of you are just as guilty, aiding him. If it weren't for the fact that we need this project and this facility and its staff are the best equipped to give it to us, I'd really throw the book at you idiots! You can consider yourselves on probation and house arrest. I'll see that all pending charges are dropped against you as soon as we get that first all up prototype."

"Agreed." Dr. Pavilion replied.

"What ever happened to ASTRO?" Dr. O'Shay asked with a sob in his voice.

"Eliminated." General Hayes said, sticking his chest out. "Shot down over the Hudson by my F18's with a pair of heat seeking AIM-7 Sparrows."

"OH." Dr. O'Shay sighed with tears in his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Astro<strong> felt the shock wave from the two exploding warheads. He quickly shut down his jets and dived in an out out control like spiral towards the river below. At the last second he cleaned up his decent just enough to smoothly enter the river. He fired his jet engines one quick time to disturb the surface of the river and make it look like he'd really hit hard. Then just for good measure he released several quarts of his reserve oil and jet fuel to leave a stain on the surface, a trick he'd seen in some old WWII movie about submarines. He dived deep to the bottom of the river and lit his eye's search lamps as he propelled himself towards the Manhattan side of the river. He spotted a sewer outlet and entered the pipe.

Astro popped up inside of a water treatment tank not far from Hell Gate. He waited until dark to crawl out of the treatment plant and made his way though Spanish Harlem. As he sneaked through the backyards of the tenements he noticed laundry hanging out to dry. Though he felt a little guilty about it, he borrowed a pair of jeans and a tee shirt from one of the clotheslines and then walked over the Willis Avenue bridge into Manhattan.

It was very early in the morning when he again found himself sitting on the front steps of the Richardson's Brownstone. He fell asleep and was again awakened by a rolled up newspaper that hit him between the eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Bob <strong>Richardson opened the door to his home to retrieve the morning paper from the front steps as he did every morning. As he looked down towards the street he saw a disheveled looking little boy sitting on the steps rubbing his eyes, a newspaper lying in his lap.

"Tobio?" he asked.

"Mr. Richardson! Yes it's me! I'm back!" Tobio cried out.

"Ellen! Tommy! Come outside!" Bob yelled. His family emerged into the street in their pajamas to find their foster son looking up at them with tears in his eyes. They quickly pulled him inside and greeted him with hugs and sobs of joy.

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. <strong>O'Shay rubbed his wrists where the handcuffs had been. His back ached from the surgical scars and he was still weak from the blood loss. He also felt a deep sense of loss that he knew he wouldn't get over anytime soon. Dr. Pavilion and Yuko also massaged their wrists where the brackets had been. Their faces showed their grief as well.

Yuko then felt a buzzing in her pocket, she reached into it to pull out her cell phone that was warning her of an incoming text from O'Shay's phone.

"Did you just text me?" she asked O'Shay.

"No, I gave my phone to Astro." The doctor replied.

"Here," she said handing O'Shay her phone. The doctor looked at the phone's OLED screen.

'Don't worry doctor. I'm home now! – Tobio'  
>'PS when you come to visit you can have your phone back'<p>

Suddenly Dr. O'Shay felt as if the weight of the world had been removed from his shoulders. He shared the message with Dr. Pavilion and the three of them shared a long mutual hug.

_The End_


End file.
